FATE’S CRUEL SPORT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 341, 30 April 1928, Page 11

FATE’S CRUEL SPORT

SHIP SEIZED WHILE ON RESCUE WORK CARGO OF WHISKY By a strange trick of fate Captain R. Pamphlet, who set out from Vancouver in the British sailing ship Peshawa to deliver a cargo of pre-war j whisky to the inhabitants of a Pacific island, is now serving a two years' j term of imprisonment. He had the j bad luck to answer signals of distress i from a vessel at the mercy of tempestuous seas, and rail foul of a U.S Revenue cutter which was engaged on the same merciful errand. Captain Pamphlet cleared from Vancouver with a prime cargo of thousands of cases containing bottles of pre-war whisky. He was bound for a destination which, probably on account of its insignificance, was m ( marked on the chart —a little out-ol- j the-way island among the thousands that dot the Pacific Ocean. At least, that was the story told to the people who cleared the ship for sea. The Peshawa’s destination was kept a secret, however. In any case if the cargo could be “lauded" in good order and condition, as the charter party indicated, there was "big money" to be collected. In Forbidden Area Well to windward of American water, while the Peshawa was steering south-west with a favourable wind, a “northerly buster" broke loose, and before night fell the ship was wallow- ! ing in a seaway that rose higher than ! her mastheads. Jn the small hours of the morning watch, rockets rose in the skiy far to the eastward —they were signals of distress from inside an area restricted to rum-runners by American law. Rum-runner, or no rum-runner, a ship was in trouble, and Captain Pamphlet decided to risk his ship j and go to the distressed vessel’s assistance. She smashed through the wild seas until she arrived in the vicinity of the American schooner Caoka, and put off a boat with four men. The last man of the Caoka was stowed in the lifeboat of the rescue ship when the Caoka foundered. Daylight broke when the Peshawa was getting her boat alongside, and another vessel appeared on the scene. She, too, had seen the distress rockets, and came along to help. Unfortunately she proved to be one of the new coastguard patrols that was recently established on the station, and her commander was hungry for a capture. Widespread Indignation ! Had the latest, arrival been a British ship the character of the gallant Peshawa probably would have been ignored, but there were thousands of dollars at stake in the shape of a reward, and these weighed heavier than principle. The crews of both ships were taken | on board the revenue cutter and sub- | sequently Captain Pamphlet was ! hailed before the court, on a charge of attempting to smuggle liquor into the ! United States. His gallantry in rescuing the crew of the Caoka was ignored: he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and his ship and cargo were ordered to be confiscated. That was his reward for risking his ship and the lives of those on board in rescuing the lives of American seamen. The case has excited profound indignation among Americans, particularly seamen, and a giant petition is being signed against the sentence, which is to be sent to the President of the United States. The case has done more harm to the law of prohibition than anything that has occurred. There is already talk among anti-prohibitionists of replacing Captain Pamphlet's loss as soon as he is liberated.